Issa to Holder: Okay, sure, let’s talk

posted at 12:01 pm on June 14, 2012 by Erika Johnsen

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited for the contempt proceedings scheduled to go down next week against Attorney General Eric Holder for, at the very least, utterly failing to rein in his wanton Justice Department; at the worst, actively pushing a deadly, illegal gunwalking program designed to subvert Americans’ gun rights (and to all of you “enough with the conspiracy theory!” folks out there, it’s foolish to trust that any government, anywhere is incapable of such nefarious deeds). Either way, why would innocent people withhold over 100,000 subpoenaed documents and persecute whistleblowers?

Of course, nobody wants to go ahead with a contempt vote if we don’t have to — it’d be wildly preferable it AG Holder would just pony up with the requested documents. When Holder was in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this week, he repeatedly claimed he was more than willing to cooperate with the investigation, and Deputy Attorney General James Cole has also asked for a private meeting with House Oversight Committee members. To that effect, Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa sent Holder a letter on Wednesday asking him to actually follow through on those bold-faced “let’s make a deal” proclamations and quit the dithering.

I write to respond to the Deputy Attorney General letter from Monday, and to comments you made yesterday, expressing a desire to meet. As our staffs have discussed, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Department of Justice are at an impasse over documents the Department has refused to produce. Let me be clear — if the Department of Justice submits a serious proposal for how it intents to alter its refusal to produce critical documents subpoenaed by the Committee, I am ready and willing to meet and discuss your proposal.

If the Department wishes to settle this dispute short of contempt, the Committee has offered it a clear path to do so without the need to disclose sensitive documents created during Operations Fast and Furious.

In making repeated accommodations, the Committee has made a good faith effort to allow the Department to meet its obligations to comply with the Committee’s subpoena. For the Department to argue otherwise without making a serious offer to alter its opposition to producing subpoenaed documents is highly disingenuous. If the Department is prepared to engage in discussions based upon a stated willingness to drop its opposition to providing material from after February 4, 2011, that may reflect internal deliberations, I may ask that you indicate such intention. If the Department has another proposal for altering its objections to providing subpoenaed material, I ask that you promptly submit that proposal for consideration as a basis for productive discussion.

Again, I appreciate your effort to resolve this dispute. I believe the interests of the Department, Congress and those directly affected by reckless conduct in Operation Fast and Furious are best served by an agreement that renders the process of contempt unnecessary.

Your move, Holder.

And hey, here’s another interesting tidbit: On Wednesday afternoon, the DOJ announced that Ronald Weich, an assistant attorney general for legislative affairs who once denied reports of ATF gunwalking, is leaving his job.

In an earlier (Feb. 4, 2011) letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, Weich denied that the ATF had ever allowed guns to be sold and taken across the border. Weich said that Grassley’s allegation — “that ATF ‘sanctioned’ or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them to Mexico – is false. ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico.”

In its announcement on Wednesday, the Justice Department said Weich is leaving to become the dean of the University of Baltimore Law School.

Does anybody else get the sneaking feeling that the Justice Department really wants this to just all go away?

As a quick sidenote, for anybody just recently cottoning on to the Fast & Furious probe and finding its exact nature elusive (I didn’t quite understand it myself until I read Katie Pavlich’s book on the deadly operation and it’s shameless cover-up), here’s a video from the American Future Fund with a succinct summary of the situation. It ain’t pretty.

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Comments

But when I ask for them, I am told to ‘google’.
You are the ones making the accusations..but you can’t make the case?
Again, just all over the place.
But whatever. How about instead of offering anyting of merit and substance, you just come up with crass re-workings of ‘verbaluce’.
Ha.

verbaluce on June 14, 2012 at 1:49 PM

At this point, what do the facts of the scandal matter to whether or not Holder a) should not perjure himself before congress or b) should comply with a congressional subpoena.

Right now, the facts are not all known, b/c the DOJ has stonewalled. Do you approve of such tactics?

On the last of the ninth, with two out and 3 and 2 pitch coming from Issa, there will be a timeout called by Holder in the form of thousands of didacted documents. The Obamamedia will cry “He’s done everything possible, but the evil GOP wants to get even for that criminal Scooter Libby.

Perhaps this was all a border enforcement and securing the integrity of the vote operation by Obama and Holder.
Done by the Drone Killer Video Card Shark by killing Mexicans in Mexico before they could invade our borders and vote here illegally?
We won’t know until the Drone Killer Video Card Shark tells his AG to release the documents now will we?

This! If no other statement of Holder’s shows either duplicity or arrogance or incompetence or all all three, this one surely does.

Deanna on June 14, 2012 at 1:34 PM

But he has superior knowledge. :0

Seriously that clip of Holder saying that the e-mail with Fast and Furious mentioned really meant some other operation could have been taken from an SNL skit. It would be hillarious if it were not for the fact that it is the AG giving testimony to Congress and not some spoof.

You are usually above name calling…hmmm.
But you also think Holder should stand trial as an accessory to murder.
Maybe you’re overstepping a little?
But let this be exhibit A as to how and why it’s so hard to take much of the concerns expressed here.
The accusations and versions of what the wrong-doing was are all over the place…connected only by some seemingly personal animosity towards Holder and Obama.
There are exceptions…but they are few.
The sensitivity to my mocking the presenting the AFF video as some sort of ‘summary’ of the case – I mean, come on people.I am more willing than many of you to look at actual facts.
But when I ask for them, I am told to ‘google’.
You are the ones making the accusations..but you can’t make the case?
Again, just all over the place.But whatever. How about instead of offering anyting of merit and substance, you just come up with crass re-workings of ‘verbaluce’.
Ha.

verbaluce on June 14, 2012 at 1:49 PM

Look, whinyface, this has been going on for a couple of years now and there’s been posts and posts and posts with regards to it. Why should we regurgitate everything because YOU can’t look in the archives or go to the CBS website or google “fast and furious”?

Seriously, do your own work. This didn’t happen yesterday. If you haven’t been keeping up, then why should WE spend our time doing what you should do yourself?

Quit being so whiny and lazy. Typical liberal attempting to blame everyone else for your lack of initiative.

This doesn’t look good. The seriousness of the situation demands that Obama ask his AG to release those documents to congress so they can find out exactly why the Justice Dept told lawful gun sellers to sell guns to known felons and foreign nationals!

This is Obamas Justice Dept! Is he and his Dept above the law, the people have a right to know! The right to oversight is granted to congress. Obama should release the records!

Look, whinyface, this has been going on for a couple of years now and there’s been posts and posts and posts with regards to it. Why should we regurgitate everything because YOU can’t look in the archives or go to the CBS website or google “fast and furious”?

Seriously, do your own work. This didn’t happen yesterday. If you haven’t been keeping up, then why should WE spend our time doing what you should do yourself?

Quit being so whiny and lazy. Typical liberal attempting to blame everyone else for your lack of initiative.

Or: You find your own talking points.

Either way works for me.

kim roy on June 14, 2012 at 2:13 PM

Pssst – verbaluce operates mentally at the level of someone between the ages of 2 and 3 – you’re going to provoke a major tantrum if you keep speaking with such big, mean, hurtful words! :)

This whole fiasco would make a great movie or docudrama. Maybe Steve Banion could do a mini series complete with spies of the BATF, Patrol Agents being told to look the other way, with brown people getting slaughtered by guns Obamas’ US Dept Of Justice ordered to be sold to felons, drug dealers and foreign nationals!
Maybe a mini series set to run Sept through Nov 2012 just in time for the fall sweeps!

What has, Kim>
What has been going on for a couple of years?
The DOJ ‘stonewalling’?
Holder being an accessory to murder?
A secret plan to regulate gun ownership?
I’ll admit I have a hard time debating conspiracy theorists when I don’t know what the alleged conspiracy is – and nobody will say beyond ‘Holder should be in jail!’.

Does anybody else get the sneaking feeling that the Justice Department really wants this to just all go away?

Yep. Had this feeling from the start. Nothing says “I’m willing to cooperate” louder, clearer or stronger than simply producing the documents asked for. Anything and everything else is dithering, subversiveness and cover-up. So Holder, “blank” or get off the pot–NOW.

BTW, he’ll be at a wedding in Chicago this weekend so don’t expect anything this week.

What has, Kim>
What has been going on for a couple of years?
The DOJ ‘stonewalling’?
Holder being an accessory to murder?
A secret plan to regulate gun ownership?
I’ll admit I have a hard time debating conspiracy theorists when I don’t know what the alleged conspiracy is – and nobody will say beyond ‘Holder should be in jail!’.

verbaluce on June 14, 2012 at 2:34 PM

Behold the embodiment of the “low information voter”

“I am ignorant of any of these things because the ONLY credible source for me is the Obama administration. Who is the Shryl Atkinsson you speak of? She has not come to MY door to lay the facts before ME, there fore they are spurious!”

I don’t mind if y’all want to figuratively smash the troll, stomp the troll, goad the troll, or even bait the troll …

… but for the love of God, STOP trying to feed the troll facts!

He can’t understand them, won’t digest them and it only enlarges his already oversized ego by letting him think HE controls you.

Ignorance, willful or the plain old garden variety. In the absence of extenuating circumstances neither reflects well on the ignoramus. I don’t see any excuse for this degree of ignorance. And no, getting all your news from the Flying Monkey Media and MSNBC does not absolve you of responsibility for ignorance of the news they choose to suppress.

Anyone who doesn’t know the basic outline of F&F at this point is too irresponsible to vote intelligently.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday agreed to make what he called “an extraordinary accommodation” to Republicans investigating the botched “Operation Fast and Furious” by turning over department emails he has long insisted deal with internal deliberations and should be protected.

Sounds like Holder just found out some Democrats were going to vote with Republicans on those contempt charges.

I guess that’s true if you ignore, just for instance, all of my comments.

I suppose you don’t want to answer the question of why you support an executive agency refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena and lying to congress (as proven by emails showing Holder was briefed on F&F well before he stated to congress) b/c it demonstrates that to you, such things as legal compliance are entirely dependent upon party affiliation.

PolAgnostic on June 14, 2012 at 3:24 PM
PolAgnostic on June 14, 2012 at 3:24 PM

Man, what a hall of mirrors you guys live in.
You guys don’t even know what you are angry about…just that you are angry.
Simple questions like ‘what is the accusation?’ or ‘what is it you think Holder did?’ are met with ‘go look it up!’ and ‘we are not gonna lay it out for you!’.
Kind of artful how you avoid ever saying anything and then high five each other for accomplishing that.

Man, what a hall of mirrors you guys live in.
You guys don’t even know what you are angry about…just that you are angry.
Simple questions like ‘what is the accusation?’ or ‘what is it you think Holder did?’ are met with ‘go look it up!’ and ‘we are not gonna lay it out for you!’.
Kind of artful how you avoid ever saying anything and then high five each other for accomplishing that.

verbaluce on June 14, 2012 at 4:03 PM

This is dishonest. Your question has been answered numerous times by different commenters.

Here it is in a nutshell.

there was an ATF program, code named Fast and Furious, whereby the US would allow guns to be sold illegally in Mexico to drug cartels. The purpose of that program remains unclear. Ostensibly, it was so that the guns could be tracked and then something done with that information. However, there was no effort whatsoever made to track the guns – and that would not have accomplished much anyhow.

The guns that were released to mexican criminals were then used to kill hundreds of Mexicans and at least 2 U.S. border patrol agents.

When this came to light, congress began to investigate.

Holder claimed he never even heard of the program until Congress asked him about it.

Holder and the DOJ refuses to comply with a congressional subpoena and is stonewalling congress in its investigation into:

1. Who authorized this program;
2. Who knew about the program;
3. What the purpose of the program was; and
4. Whether any laws were broken or whether it was simply gross incompetence.

That Holder has already lied to congress is demonstrated by some recently obtained emails from well before Holder claims to have hear of F&F showing Holder was in on briefings about F&F.

So, the issues are pretty simple actually and your claims of not understanding make you either a complete idiot or completely dishonest.

Again, why do you believe it is ok for DOJ to ignore congress? Would you hold the same belief were it a Republican AG and democrat congress? No, you wouldn’t. Which demonstrates that you care nothing about the rule of law, only whether your side is in power.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday agreed to make what he called “an extraordinary accommodation” to Republicans investigating the botched “Operation Fast and Furious” by turning over department emails he has long insisted deal with internal deliberations and should be protected.
Sounds like Holder just found out some Democrats were going to vote with Republicans on those contempt charges.

ButterflyDragon on June 14, 2012 at 3:40 PM

Ohboy!

Do you remember about a month or so ago we discussed whether Holder was going to be like Ron Brown, or like Webster Hubbell?

I think Issa has intentionally been withholding a lot of information/leads, and that Holder has been hoping that he was blustering/bluffing/playing chicken, only to find out to his dismay that Issa is not. I also think it’s very reasonable to conclude that Holder is starting to realize he can’t kick the can down the road any longer!

Any thoughts/speculations about what’s next for Holder? Do you believe he’ll give Issa everything he wants?

I suppose you don’t want to answer the question of why you support an executive agency refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena and lying to congress (as proven by emails showing Holder was briefed on F&F well before he stated to congress) b/c it demonstrates that to you, such things as legal compliance are entirely dependent upon party affiliation.

Monkeytoe on June 14, 2012 at 3:59 PM

Congressional subpoena pissing matches and accusations of false or misleading testimony are cliches of any partisan fishing expeditions.
I accuse Issa and Cornyn of having no genuine non-political motivations here, ok?
There’s lots here entirely dependent upon party affiliation – you got that right.

Holder and his crew are playing the game. Once Obama loses the election they have the idea that out of sight out of mind, and they all walk. Congress usually doesn’t have the guts to stay in the game, that is based on past performance.

Congressional subpoena pissing matches and accusations of false or misleading testimony are cliches of any partisan fishing expeditions.
I accuse Issa and Cornyn of having no genuine non-political motivations here, ok?
There’s lots here entirely dependent upon party affiliation – you got that right.

verbaluce on June 14, 2012 at 4:21 PM

Good. So we have it for the record that if a democrat congress ever subpoenas a republican executive agency, the executive agency does not have to comply.

Thank you for at least being honest that you do not care about the rule of law whatsoever. Most Marxists attempt to hide that from public view, but here you have owned it. The first bit of honesty I have probably ever seen from you.

Could be, but I think it is just part of the stalling strategy. Having delayed up to the last moment before being held in contempt of Congress, he will now release a new batch of documents, all carefully scrubbed of Holder’s fingerprints. Review will take some time. Then Issa, et al, will complain that once again Holder has not been responsive to the subpoenas. Elijah will get up on his high horse and scream “Whitey on a witch hunt!” at the top of his lungs. It just isn’t going anywhere until Holder is held in contempt and a federal judge orders the US Marshals to enforce the subpoenas by going to the DOJ and physically seizing the records.

The risks Obama and Holder are taking can only be justified if they know that if the truth comes out they are finished, kaput.

At this point, I think all Holder is trying to do is to delay the inevitable until after the election. Eventually we will get to the bottom of it, but if it is after the election Holder and Obama won’t care. Holder can be run out, but Obama will just pardon him. I can’t imagine the gutless wonders in the Republican leadership attempting to impeach a just re-elected Obama even if they had memos from him to Holder directly authorizing the unlawful sale of weapons to Mexican cartel terrorists, and from Holder back, detailing the sales.

when you have to support ignoring the rule of law, doesn’t it make you contemplate that maybe your ideology is wrong?

I mean, I know that having to lie constantly, as Obama does, does not make leftists contemplate whether their ideology is wrong. But is there anything that you hold as a principal other than trying to acquire more and more power?

Man, what a hall of mirrors you guys live in.
You guys don’t even know what you are angry about…just that you are angry.
Simple questions like ‘what is the accusation?’ or ‘what is it you think Holder did?’ are met with ‘go look it up!’ and ‘we are not gonna lay it out for you!’.
Kind of artful how you avoid ever saying anything and then high five each other for accomplishing that.

verbaluce on June 14, 2012 at 4:03 PM

… and now we’ve got a whiny troll who does not understand his limitations or his problems.

Could be, but I think it is just part of the stalling strategy. Having delayed up to the last moment before being held in contempt of Congress, he will now release a new batch of documents, all carefully scrubbed of Holder’s fingerprints. Review will take some time. Then Issa, et al, will complain that once again Holder has not been responsive to the subpoenas. Elijah will get up on his high horse and scream “Whitey on a witch hunt!” at the top of his lungs. It just isn’t going anywhere until Holder is held in contempt and a federal judge orders the US Marshals to enforce the subpoenas by going to the DOJ and physically seizing the records.

The risks Obama and Holder are taking can only be justified if they know that if the truth comes out they are finished, kaput.

At this point, I think all Holder is trying to do is to delay the inevitable until after the election. Eventually we will get to the bottom of it, but if it is after the election Holder and Obama won’t care. Holder can be run out, but Obama will just pardon him. I can’t imagine the gutless wonders in the Republican leadership attempting to impeach a just re-elected Obama even if they had memos from him to Holder directly authorizing the unlawful sale of weapons to Mexican cartel terrorists, and from Holder back, detailing the sales.

novaculus on June 14, 2012 at 4:29 PM

I agree it’s a stalling tactic, as Holder-meerkat sees the walls closing in, but I don’t believe Issa will fall for it – either he gets everything he’s asking for from Holder, or he proceeds on pace (Issa hasn’t let me down yet!)

Holder expects to undermine support for the contempt citation by doing a last-minute document drop. That will likely peel off the Democrat support. If Issa proceeds on schedule with the contempt citation, Democrats will portray it as a partisan witch hunt.

Issa is dong a good job. He is being very careful not to overreach or make a misstep that can be credibly portrayed as partisan. Of course, Elijah is leading the Democrats playing the “partisan politics” card anyway, but they aren’t credible due to the caution and patience that Issa has displayed.

It did seem to me that Issa was at the end of his patience during the last hearing before Judiciary. He needs to tie a knot in the end of the rope and hang on. He is gradually backing Holder and Obama into a corner, and he can’t afford a mistake that lets them escape.

The GOP establishment won’t do a damn thing about this scandal except make loud noises attempting to gain political advantage – and the moment one of their “focus groups” says that there’s no more advantage in running with this scandal – it’ll be OFF their radar.

Let’s face it – TEAM GOP renegged on their “congressional oversight” responsibility LONG ago.

Dead pan chickens when it comes to facing Dimmocrits. They didn’t have the balls to settle Freddie and Fannie before it blew up – they damn sure don’t have the nuts to tackle a black President and Attourney General.

True but a .50 sniper rifle is a .50 sniper rifle; not something we really want in the hands of the cartels; never mind arming them with anything.

ghostwalker1 on June 14, 2012 at 2:31 PM

If I ever have the thousands of dollars to piss away on a gun for which I have no practical use (at the moment), I will buy a Barrett semi-auto .50 cal. There may be better, more accurate long range alternatives, but it’s a .50 cal, dude. One-half inch diameter of tissue obliterating bad-assness.

The GOP establishment won’t do a damn thing about this scandal except make loud noises attempting to gain political advantage – and the moment one of their “focus groups” says that there’s no more advantage in running with this scandal – it’ll be OFF their radar.

Let’s face it – TEAM GOP renegged on their “congressional oversight” responsibility LONG ago.

Dead pan chickens when it comes to facing Dimmocrits. They didn’t have the balls to settle Freddie and Fannie before it blew up – they damn sure don’t have the nuts to tackle a black President and Attourney General.

Nuff said.

HondaV65 on June 15, 2012 at 2:38 AM

Your insane, no-concern-for-reality diatribes, which originate from your blogging desk that’s located inside of a psychiatric ward, are always good for a laugh. This one here’s no different, but, I admit that I liked your Hilary Rosen screeds even better! :)